Thursday, December 14, 2006

Hush that fuss, everybody move to the back of the bus

# 14 - Aquemini - Outkast

The only Outkast entry on my list, Aquemini, (sorry, Brandon. you can be the ambassador of Stankonia) is the forerunner to the Bush-bashing, Grammy-winning hip-hop saving album, Stankonia. However, before Big Boi and Dre concerned themselves with foreign wars or baby-mamma drama, Outkast delivered the dirrty, psychedelic trip to the ATL: dice games, club fights, and getting fired from the post office. Put in context, hip hop was struggling at this time: Dre and Snoop had split; Biggie and Tupac had died; JayZ was not yet Jigga; Nas had fallen off after "Illmatic," and Marshall Mathers was living "8 mile."

Unless you count Puffy (which I don't) the land was barren, until Outkast brought forth a harvest of horns, synths, storytelling reminiscent of Slick Rick or Biggie, INCREDIBLE rhymes (remember when Andre 3000 rapped?), and a heavy does of 'erb. Move over Master P (and shut the hell up). The South now had its only voice in the rap game (until Toby Keith, of course).

Favorite tracks: Rosa Parks (to which I performed my famous "Double Dutch" dance at parties); Synthesizer featuring George Clinton; Spottieottiedogaliscious; Liberation (a precursor to "Love Below" only bluesier)

If you're an Stankonian immigrant, return to your roots and check your horoscope - Aquemini.

2 comments:

Lucky Strikes said...

Justin, I don't own this album, but now I want to. Nice review. You just put the hip back in the hop. Will I find the "Double Dutch" on YouTube, too?

jphillip said...

Probably not. It's very simple, and you can do it at home, provided you have 2 buddies:

Place one in front of you and one behind. Have them move their arms in a circular motion, as if they are spinning the ropes for you. Place yourself between the invisible ropes and move rhythymically to "Rosa Parks" and the ropes.

Variations include: tripping on the ropes; entering the ropes while someone is already jumping, thus placing two people in the ropes; leaping over one of the "rope-holders" in order to enter the ropes. you get the point.

At know point, though, should you consider learning Double Dutch to become a better dancer.